120 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 5 



Chambliss in the chair. James M. R. Adams, Samuel B. Detwiler, 

 Harry T. Edwards, Peter Klaphaak, and Frederick D. Richey were 

 elected into the Society. The names of Wm. Diehl, Dr. J. F. Martin, Dr. 

 Eben H. Toole and Mr. Freeman Weiss were presented as candidates for 

 membership. 



Under Brief notes and revieivs of literature, Dr. Haven Metcalf presented 

 two books as worthy of the study of any scientist. The first is by fimile 

 Duclaux, entitled Pasteur, Histoire d'un Esprit, and published in 1896. 

 This book has been translated into English by Dr. Erwin F. Smith and Miss 

 Florence Hedges under the title of Pasteur, History of a Mind (published 

 by the W. B. Saunders Co., in 1920). Dr. E. D. Merrill called attention 

 to two of his publications which were little known, one entitled A Com- 

 mentary on Loureiro's Flora Cochinchinensis, in 2 volumes, typewritten in 

 1919. But 5 copies were issued, one of which is in the Library of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. The second. Species Blancoanae, a critical 

 revision of the Philippine species of plants described by Blanco and Danos, 

 was put out in Manila in typewritten form in 1917. This work is also in the 

 Library of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



Regular Program 

 E. D. Merrill: Vegetation of the Philippines (illustrated by lantern slides). 



The salient features of the Philippine flora were discussed, and so far as 

 possible the points were illustrated. The known flora comprises about SoOO 

 species of phanerogams and nearly 1000 species of ferns and fern allies, while, 

 excepting the algae, the various groups of cellular cryptogams are relatively 

 highly developed. The percentage of specific endemism is high, over GO per 

 cent, while generic endemism is very small, indicating a separation from other 

 parts of Malaya sufficiently long to allow the development of very numerous 

 local species, but not long enough to permit the development of many genera. 

 The Archipelago presents Asiatic, Malayan, Australian, and Polynesian 

 elements, but its flora is essentially Malayan. The continental elements 

 are practically confined to the mountains of northern Luzon; the Polynesian 

 and rather striking Australian elements are nowhere dominant, but occur 

 at both low and high altitudes. While the Philippine flora is essentially 

 Malaj^an, there are practically no special alliances with Borneo, Sumatra, 

 Java, and the Malay Peninsula, but there are very striking special alliances 

 with the islands to the south and southeast, Celebes, the Moluccas, New Gui- 

 nea, tropical. Australia, and New Caledonia. The indications are that the 

 original Philippine flora came largely from the islands to the south and south- 

 east, not from the Sunda Islands to the southwest. It would seem probably 

 that an ancient continent extended from the Philippines to the south and 

 southeast at least as far as New Guinea, and that the plant migration fol- 

 lowed what may have been a coastal plain region to what is now the Philip- 

 pine Archipelago. 



The various types of vegetation in the Philippines were discussed in detail, 

 the virgin forest, secondary forest, and open grass lands. It was assumed 

 that the original vegetation was a virgin forest of one type or another, and 

 that the secondary forests and open grass lands, as well as the cultivated 

 areas, are due to the activities of man. A cleared area once deserted almost 

 never reverts to primary forest, but to open grass lands, bamboo thickets 

 or secondary forests. vSpecific endemism in primary forests runs as high as 70 

 per cent, while in secondary forests, open grass lands, and settled areas it is 



